The U.S. postal service has implemented a bar coding system for automating the processing of mail from its point of receipt to the destination letter carrier. In the process of implementing this bar coding system, the postal service relies on pre-printed labels and tags for the identification of the trays of mail that are moved through its system. As mail is received in a post office, it is sorted in a number of steps. There are two sources of mail that are processed by a post office: mail that is collected locally and mail that is received from another postal facility for a finer sortation. The mail that is received locally will be sorted in a three phase sortation in accordance with geographical distribution. In the first sortation, local mail will be separated from regional and state mail, with the local mail remaining at that post office or forwarded to another local post office for ultimate receipt by the letter carriers. The out of town mail is sorted geographically and sent to distribution centers for the mail furthest away and to other post offices in other states for further sortation. The mail that is received by a post office from a distribution center will be further sorted for the local delivery.
In any of these sortation schemes, there is generally a sortation plan which is basically a table which designates where specific mail pieces are to be channeled or forwarded.
In order for the mail to be further identified, the postal clerk will place a tag on a tray that indicates the destination of the mail contained in the tray. As now practiced, each post office is provided with a case that holds a large number of pre-printed tags that are segregated in accordance to distinctions of mail pieces and have a color code. The color code is provided so that a different colored tag can be used for different designated delivery days for those mail pieces that are to be sent out of town and a white label for local mail. The colored tag scheme allows a receiving clerk at a downstream operation to determine the targeted delivery day of that tray so as to give preference to more time sensitive mail. As one can imagine, a large number of tags are required to process the mail from day to day.
The present pre-printed tags have certain drawbacks. A clerk will often run out of tags and must order the same from a centralized location. The lead time to order such tags normally is from 4-6 weeks. The use of so many tags requires stock rooms and clerks to administer the stock rooms. The cost of the tags is high and there is a great deal of waste because obsolete tags are discarded.
Obviously, it would be beneficial to provide a system for tagging trays, sacks, and the like in a more efficient and economic manner.